Him
by saiyanjutsu
Summary: “I see now Rukia” said brother replied. “This boy resembles him, a lot”. Him? Who was him? And what was he to Rukia? Thought Ichigo.


"_**HIM**_**"**

"_Let go Renji! Ichigo is…!" she breathed_

"_What the hell is wrong with you?! Look! That rookie is dead!!"_

"_There's no point getting into more trouble over a dead guy!" _

"_If you go near him you'll be adding another 20 years to your sentence" he shouted at her. His breathing was harsh and ragged._

"_I was the one who dragged him into this" she whispered, "it's my fault he died, since it's my fault he died is it so wrong to go to him?!" She was screaming now._

"_In other words" Another voice entered the conversation, "even if your punishment worsens, you still want to be by the side of this __**boy"**__._

"_Brother…" She was whispering again._

"_I see now Rukia" said brother replied._

"_This __**boy**__ resembles __**him**__, a lot"._

Ichigo squinted his eyes, adjusting to the new found light. He looked around his room and found Rukia drawing at his desk, he groaned.

"Rukia" he whined, the raven haired girl looked up from the desk she was occupying.

"So you're finally awake" she said.

"Yeah but I wouldn't mind being asleep again" grumbled the boy with orange hair, he gazed at the clock on his desk, the red numbers saying it was nine-thirty PM.

"Stop being grumpy, you've been asleep since five-o clock" Ichigo blinked and looked down at his clothes, sure enough he was still in his school uniform. He sighed.

Rukia returned back to whatever she was doing on his desk and Ichigo layed his head back on his pillow.

His thoughts wondered back to his dream, he had dreamt about the night Byakuya and Renji had taken Rukia away. A frown immediately came upon his face at the thought.

"_This __**boy**__ resembles __**him**__, a lot"._

Him? Who was him? And what was he to Rukia?

The frown on his face became more prominent, Rukia noticed this.

"What are you frowning about this time?" She asked jokingly.

He looked at her and took in her face, her hair was slightly damp from her previous shower.

Her eyes held very little light due to the dim lighting in the room. She looked… peaceful? Her body wasn't tense from fighting, her face wasn't pulled into emotionless stare, a stare which he labelled as the "Kuchiki Face".

His frown soften "just thinking about the night you were taken".

Rukia's facial expression didn't change 'which bit?" she asked, going back to her drawing.

"The bit where Byakuya referred to me as _him_".

Rukia's hand stilled, her whole body went tense.

"Rukia? Are you ok?" Asked Ichigo, generally concerned.

"Why were you thinking of that?" she asked, Ichigo sighed "too be honest I don't know, but it has been bugging me for awhile. I never knew I had a double" he said with humour.

Rukia also sighed "well you're so called double was my Vice Captain for the Thirteenth Squad".

Ichigo looked up "Vice Captain? You mean the Thirteenth Squad actually had one?" He asked disbelievingly. Rukia nodded.

"His name was Kaien Shiba" Ichigo's eyes widened, "Shiba??? You mean the Thirteenth Sqaud Vice Captain was Ganju and Kukaku's brother?!"

Rukia nodded again.

"So what happened to him? Did he just take off ?"

"No he was taken over by a hollow" Ichigo swore his eyes couldn't get any bigger.

"Hollow" he repeated.

"The hollow's name was Metastacia" she said.

Ichigo decided to steer the conversation in another direction, "What did he look like?" Rukia smiled, "Kaien had a youthful appearance and was a fairly tall person, with white skin and aqua green eyes. Kaien had spiky hair similar to yours except it was raven black".

He waited for her to continue, "He also had a tattoo of the Shiba family crest on his arm".

"Are our personalities the same?" Rukia looked up from her hands "well I wouldn't say you had the same personality but they are similar".

"How so?" He asked.

"Kaien was outspoken with a rough disposition, but his down-to-earth attitude is one of the reasons why everyone looked up to him. He treated everyone equally, regardless of their social standing or rank. And he always had a smile on his face whereas you always frown" she said teasingly. Ichigo just "humphed".

Rukia just smiled and continued "He believed that one's heart relied on prospects of fighting and protecting. He believed that every time someone connected with one another, a little bit of heart is born between them."

"He thought of heart as not of something inside you, but what is born whenever you think of or remember someone. He believed that the 'heart' exists in them and remains with one's comrades after their death. As such Kaien believed that people must never die alone."

"He's right. People must never die alone" he agreed. Rukia agreed also, a silence layed between them.

"He was important to you, wasn't he" it wasn't a question, it was a statement and Rukia knew it.

"Yeah, he was" she said quietly.

"Wanna talk about it?" He suggested. Rukia gave a bitter smile "I killed him". Ichigo's face did not waver to surprise "how?" he asked softly.

"Like I said before, he was taken over by a hollow and I had to stop him so I ran my Zanpaktou through his chest and you know what he said to as his last dying words?"

Ichigo silence meant for her to continue.

"_Thankyou, now I can leave my heart with you" _

Rukia was clutching her sweatpants, making her knuckles turn pale. "Why would he say that? Why would he thank me?" She asked more to herself than Ichigo.

"Maybe he was truly greatful?" Ichigo suggested, Rukia shook her head "but I _killed_ him! Kukaku and Ganju, you should've seen their faces when I dragged his dead, cold body to them" she paused.

"I can't hide from that, its with me forever, I-"

Two muscular arms wrapped around her, "Ich-"

"Shut up"

"But-"

"I said shut up" he repeated.

"Thanks" she said softly as she wrapped her arms around his waist, his blush became more prominent with her slight movement.

Silence came upon them, yet it wasn't awkward.

"You know" Ichigo began, "I feel kinda jealous of this Kaien"

Rukia looked at him confused, "jealous? Why?"

Ichigo adverted his eyes "well" he said as he scratched his cheek "obviously you guys were in _that_ type of relationship".

"That type of relationship? What on earth are you talking about?" Asked Rukia generally confused.

"You know, _that_ type of relationship, the loving type relationship" He said as he looked at his wall, face red with embarrassment.

Silence….

Then

Laughter?

"W-what are you laughing at?!" Yelled Ichigo, clearly frustrated.

"Y-you thought-"

More laughter.

"Rukia it isn't that funny, I get it, you loved him, no need to rub it in my face"

"Ichigo" she interrupted "Kaien and I weren't like that" she said as her face came closer to his, he gulped.

"Y-you weren't?" He studdered.

She shook her head.

"Why not?"

"I didn't see him in that way" she replied.

He could suddenly feel her breath fanning his lips, he gulped again.

"Ichigo" she whispered, her cheeks had a light red hue to them and her eyes were half lidded.

"Rukia" he whispered back.

Rukia gently layed her lips on his, asking if it was ok to do so.

Ichigo's response was more than saying yes as their sweet innocent kiss turned into something more.

She panted as she lay ontop of Ichigo

"Ichigo, I-"

"NEE-SAN!" Kon yelled.

Ichigo fought to groan in frustration.

"GET THE HELL OUT KON!!!" He yelled as he grabbed the stuff animal and threw him out the door. Muffled responses could be heard as he did so.

Ichigo sighed in aggravation and scratched his head, he looked at Rukia who was now blushing profusely as she just realised what she had done.

"You sure you and Kaien weren't in that kind of relationship? It felt like to me you may of done something like this before" he smirked teasingly.

Rukia smiled "definitely not, besides I doubt Ni-sama would approve"

Ichigo's face dropped _"ah shit, Byakuya" _he thought gravely.

Well, as long as he didn't find out he was all good he thought as he walked back to Rukia with a smirk.

END

**A/N**

**Hello! I'm sorry about not being on here often. It's been what? Last year since I was here, time goes by sooo quick D:**

**Well this was just a simple oneshot that I was writing on and off. I hope you guys end up liking it, and as for my other story "Faith and Fear (grrr that's such a crap name) I will most likely get around to doing it, its just not at the top of my things to do list at the moment. If you would like to PM me some ideas for it that might help, if I end up using your idea aswell I'll make sure to put your name in the author's note so thanks to all those people willing to do that. Also feel free to suggest another name for that story, im not really good at thinking up story titles (obviously :P)**

**Don't forget to review ^_^**

**SJ**


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